Scotland v USSR

12 December 1981

Second World Telechess Olympiad

The following article by Alan Borwell appeared in Scottish Chess number 67, February 1982.

The Scottish team arrived at the Scotland-USSR Friendship Society in Glasgow early on 12th December in conditions which were similar to those more normally expected in Moscow i.e. sub-zero temperatures and snow. The second round of the 2nd World Telechess Olympiad had drawn together the holders and favourites, the USSR, against Scotland, who had defeated Norway 5-3 in the first round. The event, organised jointly by FIDE and ICCF, is to encourage co-operation between national OTB and Postal chess associations.

Although the game against Norway had been played by telephone, it was decided that Telex would be more practical for the USSR match. The Scottish telecommunications Board were most helpful and installed two telex machines and sponsored one of the lines to the Central Chess Club in Moscow for the full duration of the 9 hour match. Transmission was in English, using international numeric chess notation, and there were few communications problems. The only crisis arose when the paper jammed in both of our machines, and several moves went astray, losing a considerable amount of playing time in two games. However, this did not jeopardise the smooth running of the match and a great deal of credit must go to Steve Mannion [Senior - AMcG] and his two volunteer telex operators for their considerable efforts. A host of helpers throughout the day also deserve thanks for their endurance and willingness.

On the playing side, the Scottish team was captained by Gerald Bonner, with Ken Stewart acting as Arbiter. Scotland included two postal players nominated by the SCCA, whereas after some persuasion, the USSR included one postal player, the ex-World Correspondence Chess Champion, Vladimir Zagorovsky. It is a pity that some countries are not including any postal players in such an event which is intended to bring together OTB and Postal bodies, e.g. England played only OTB nominees in their matches against Israel and Iceland. There is no doubt that telephone and telex matches favour OTB players, and perhaps DIDE/ICCF should consider some modifications to the regulations.

Board

Scotland

Title

Rating

USSR

Title

Rating

1

CW Pritchett

IM

2395

½-½

L. Polugaevsky

GM

2610

2

RM McKay

SM

2330

0-1

E. Vasiukov

GM

2545

3

CA McNab

SCM

2285

0-1

A. Kochiev

GM

2540

4

TJ Upton

SCM

2305

0-1

I. Zaitsev

GM

2465

5

DM Bryson

SCCM

2245

½-½

K. Lerner

IM

2520

6

CJ Morrison

2240

0-1

V. Zagorovsky

CCGM

2326

7

ML Condie

2240

½-½

I. Naumkin

2296

8

Miss H. Scott

1835

0-1

Miss N. Ioselani

WGM

2345

1½-6½

In the openings it soon became clear that Scotland's best chances for glory were in the games with the white pieces. Some of the players with black seemed somewhat overawed by their opponents and selected rather passive variations. It was interesting to take a snapshot of the position after 15 moves. None of the Russians had weaknesses in their pawn structures, whereas a number of the Scottish players had either been forced into, or had strayed into, untidy-looking formations.

However, the Scottish players with the white pieces made real efforts to gain the initiative and all of them, namely Pritchett, McNab, Bryson and Condie came close to succeeding. The finest performance was that of Craig Pritchett, who really must have given Lev Polugaevsky quite a fright on top board by taking on the Russian GM in a line of the Sicilian Defence, Scheveningen Variation, in which he is a renowned expert. (Craig's not exactly a rookie at this variation either - Ed). This game, which has already appeared in several newspapers, is in the games section with annotations by Craig.

On board 3, Colin McNab seemd to have very good chances against Alexander Kochiev, but, unfortunately, seemd to go astray in a complicated tactical middle game. On the Junior board, where Scotland seemed to have its best chance of a victory on the basis of gradings, Mark Condie maintained a useful advantage well into the middle game, but was unable to capitalise on his opponent's isolated QP. He agreed a draw after 27 moves, no dount keen to see a score on the board for Scotland.

Douglas Bryson, as expected, adopted his usual attacking style of play and his opponent, IM Konstantin Lerner, must have had some very uncomfortable moments when faced with the Göring Gambit of the Scotch Game. His choice of defensive formation was original, if not very attractive to the beholder, guarding f7 by moving his queen to c8, and retreating the QN to d8. The Russian gradually untangled hilself by returning his extra material, and in the end Douglas had to play with considerable care and imagination to secure the draw, which was agreed at the end of the 9 hour session.

Neither Roddy McKay on board 2, nor Helen Scott on board 8, obtained equality with the black pieces and were outplayed by their top class opponents. Tim Upton and Chris Morrison both defended against the Ruy Lopez, but pawn weaknesses left them with difficult positions. Although both fought hard into the endgames with some tactical chances, their Russian opponents' technique was too good to allow them to escape.

Whoever wishes to research these early moves I refer to my Batsford book on the Sicilian Scheveningen, and one or two key master games published in subsequent Informators. The text-move, the result of some 45 minutes thought out of the total 2 hours allotted for 50 moves in this event, is (as far as I am aware) a new move. I think it is probably the best move. If 22...Nxg3+ 23.hxg3! and White can attack with g4 and f5 (in some instances perhaps also g5). Alternatively, if 22...Ng7?! 23.Bxg7! (This was my new move, discovered as I was considering my 21st move. 23. Ne4 f6! is not better for White.) 23...Kxg7 24.f5! exf5 25.Nxf5+! gxf5 26.Rxf5 and White has a raging attack (whose effect is not diminished after 26...Bxg2+ etc. Contrary to Leonard Barden in the 'Guardian', I have a feeling Polugaevsky also discovered this at the board and so chose the lively text-move. which offers a pawn for the bishop pair and an active development.]

23.Nxh523...fxe5 24.Rxe5

So that if 24...gxh5?? 25. Bxh7+! and White is winning. Interesting is 24.Qxe6+ Rf7 25.Bc4 Bxg2+ 26.Kg1 Bc5+ 27.Rf2 Raf8 (a position which could also have been reached after 23.Qxe6+ Rf7 24.Bc4 Bxg2+ 25.Kg1 Bc5+ 26.Rf2 Raf8 27.Nxh5 fxe5). I did not analyse much further than this and thought Black must have at least enough play to hold the game. However, in post-mortem analysis with Danny Kopec, Roddy McKay and Alan Norris, it was discovered that White could still apparently maintain a slight pull after 28.Qxe5 Bxf2+ 29.Kxf2 gxh5 30.Qg5+ Kh8 31.Bxf7 Qxf7 32.Qe5+ Kg8 33.Kxg2 Qxf4 34.Qxf4 Rxf4 although Black should probably be able to draw this endgame without too much difficulty because of the activity of his rook. My approach seemd positionally clearer. Black's e-pawn is a long-term weakling. I did not mind giving back my extra pawn if I could recentralise my pieces and keep Black tied down to defence in the centre.

This looks very strong. If 28...Bxg5? 29. Rxg5, Black is positionally lost, and if Black's rook moves 29. Nxe6 wins. I had seen Black's reply, but I must say (with only 3 or 4 minutes on my clock! - Polugaevsky had 3 or 4 more) that I had missed Black's saving 34th move retreat.